Mixed Bag

Yesterday was a mixed bag - mostly good. Yippee! But be warned, my mood just now is a little dark, probably from the bizarre (yet entertaining) dreams I had last night. And women. Sigh.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day off from the Opera. We were, though, so far behind on the lights, since our lighting designer had to leave town for a funeral, that we got called in. I think I hurt myself (ok, not really, but I could have) pulling all of the lines onstage by myself. The poor principals just had to stand around. Basically we did do the cue to cue that I thought we ought to do - great minds think alike, but focused on the lights. I think vast improvements were made. We shall, of course, see (tee hee - light - see...nevermind) the results tonight at the first performance. Julie and I had a chat, and I was a little tongue tied and flustered. How weird is that? Oh well, life is that way sometimes. She said she wanted to pull a line once - that might be able to happen at some point. Overall, things went smoothly and we were only there for three hours.

Some friends of Gena's came to town and watched some of the rehearsal. Afterwards we chatted a bit - turns out that they are huge opera buffs and had a great respect for Anna Schoen-Rene - my great Aunt, who was an opera singing teacher. One of them said that she was more impressed to be meeting me than to be meeting someone related to a president!

Before that, mom and I had made plans to see the last Harry Potter movie and to dine out at Friendly's. So, despite the Opera call, we managed to do both. Has everyone seen the movie already? Or have plans to? If you read the books or have seen the other movies, it is worth going to see. Some of the exposition really helped me to understand what happened in the books and overall story. Yippee! And it was fun to see all the magic!

Friendly's was Friendly's. We had a new to us server, Lorena, who was very nice. Mom and I both ordered from the combo menu so we got a drink and a sundae with our meals. We ended up taking the sundaes and half of our meals back to the house. Which is a good thing. Mom had her stuff for dinner (since our Friendly's visit was really a late lunch) and I had mine when I returned from the Opera. Sadly, or humorously, mom ate my sundae instead of hers. I should have had a clue when she told me that she didn't taste any coffee in hers. Sigh.

I am enjoying my Great Lakes beer. Not scintillating, but certainly palatable. All four varieties in the variety pack are toothsome. I like the porter best. Not a big surprise.

I saw on the internet that the Turkish women went to Niagara Falls. They definitely have found someone else to take them around. Good for them! Now, I guess, I am off the hook for cooking them dinner. Always trying to find the silver lining...

PS More comments and more followers please! And if you want to, please "Like" the Diary of a Plate Addict page on Facebook! (Thank you Paul!)

Pictures from August 4, 2011:


I was going to take a picture of the movie poster, but couldn't find one...


Our Friendly's food.

It happened again

I got a wee depressed. I think it happens to most people sometimes. Some people most times. What triggered it last night was a note from the Saucer HQ saying that I needed to get permission from lots of people to use their pictures for the book. I am sure that to CMA I would be best protected to do that. But that is over 400 permissions and from a lot of people that I don't know that I could find again. If I lived in Raleigh still, it might be possible to get half of them accomplished pretty easily. But I don't live there. Grr and sigh. I came up with all sorts of plans to work this out - but none of them seems feasible. They rely too much on others and that rarely works, at least in my experience. There aren't a lot of reliable people out there. Well, I find I can rely on them to not be reliable, but that isn't all that helpful...Sam, my nephew, suggests I just go ahead and print the thing and see what happens. I am leaning in that direction myself.

Gardens of Time is almost over for me - all I want to do is upgrade all of my Wonders as far as they will go, neaten up my garden a bit and then probably not play except once a week or so to see if they have added anything new. Yippee!

It seems like it is Family month. Saw my brother last weekend. My other brother and my sister-in-law are probably coming on Sunday and then on Monday we head out to Maine to see my sister! Wow, all of them in one month! How lucky am I?

Met with the opera director yesterday. Goodness he is full of energy. At 60 (ish) he has more energy than I had when I was 2. Wow. Looks like I will be a stage hand for the show. That will be fun. It is only two performances and three or four days in the theatre. Easily doable.

Ran into the Turkish women again - they were heading downtown as I was heading home. Gulsun was posing in front of a cool older car!

Photos from July 21, 2011:


Hot and Hazy Seneca Lake!


McDaniel's House - a college residence for visiting people - where I met with the Opera director - Al Bergeret.


Gulsun posing with the car. My camera did not do an excellent job with this subject matter...probably operator error. :)

Laundry Day

Yesterday's chore was laundry - which entails not only doing the actual laundering and folding, but also stripping and making beds. We are currently having a smidgen of a heatwave - I don't think of it as a real heatwave because we haven't broken 100 degrees for more than three days in a row. But I guess it is hot enough for up here in Geneva, NY. Anyway, I don't really like making beds at the best of time - I like sleeping in clean sheets, but the actual bed making is not my most favorite task. I would rather wash dishes. Moving on - I did end up making both my own bed and my mom's. She did help with hers a bit. At least she provided some moral support. :)

The laundromat was pretty devoid of people. Which is ok. My hope springs eternal that I will meet someone interesting doing laundry. It could happen. Mom stayed home, so I rocked the laundry by myself. Easy Peasy! Next, food shopping at Wegman's! It seems that all of the women that I have come to know there have now left. What is up with that? I guess I just need to get to know the new people. Sigh.

I also ran a couple other errands. One was dropping off library books. The other was stopping in at The Smith Opera House to talk with their technical director, Mark. Wow, he is really good at saying "no." Sad. The director, Al, and I are supposed to meet up with Mark on Friday - he was reluctant to make a definite time. Why can't people make definite plans, rather than "I'll call you!" plans? Poop on those types of plans. Too nebulous for my taste.

Next stop, to visit Morgan! It was the last time that I will get to have her as a bartender here for the foreseeable future. :( Didn't get to see my crush. Also :(

At home, I cooked - it was a pretty yummy dinner - salmon, pasta al fredo, and french style artichokes - the last turned out decently but I forgot to add the lemon juice at the end. We have a few leftovers, so I will add lemon to those. Yay!

It was a night out for me, last night. I stopped in at Beef and Brew and was pretty much the only patron. Sigh. Worked on Diary of a Plate Addict a bit and then headed out to Halsey's. I haven't been to Halsey's since I came back this time. I have sort of been avoiding the place. But I went in and had a lovely time. I really liked the bartender (and pasty chef) Mary Jo. And Carol and Pete were dining there and came over and chatted for a while. I think I gained three more votes in my presidential bid. Not a dollar of financing yet - but that will come with time. :) Oh, and I saw the Turkish women walking past on the other side of the street. I waved, but they didn't see me... :)

All in all, it was a clean and happy day. We like those!

Photos from July 20, 2011:


All folded and ready to be put back in baskets for the trip home!


Yummy dinner!


I like the late evening light on the trees and buildings on the Hobart Quadrangle.

Funny Opera - Yay!

The big news yesterday was going to the opera. Isn't that exciting? Yippee! Opera! Actually, this one was pretty entertaining. It was a comic opera. I wouldn't mind seeing more of those. Natalie Dessay sang the lead in La Fille du Regiment. Very entertaining all way round.

After the opera, Mom and I went to an UNO for dinner. The food was good - not great. We had avocado eggrolls (they are better at Cheesecake Factory) and a deep dish pizza. More leftovers!

Other than that, I can't think of anything too exciting that happened. I mailed a package, met someone from POF - nice woman who I hope to see again one day - Oh, that's right, I went to a new-to-me place. OPUS - it is a wine and coffee shop. They serve some food. Very trendy. I will be surprised if it lasts for long here in Geneva. We had smoothies. It is hard to get a smoothie wrong - fear not, they didn't.

I also asked at Hobart and William Smith about taking classes. There are, of course, hoops to jump through. I think I will take a stroll down to FLCC today and see what they offer and how much, etc. Baby steps.

Another thing I forgot. Goodness, maybe Alzheimer's really is catching! I was sort of explaining "the cloud" in technology to mom in a restaurant the other day. A woman walked by and said that she had overheard and was impressed with my explanation. She expressed the desire to have someone help her with some computer issues. I volunteered my services and gave her my card thinking that I would never hear from her. Yet, she did call. And I went over yesterday and spent an hour an a half helping her with little computer things. It was fun and I think she felt helped. Yay!

Because the Turkish Women flaked on me, I was going to go ahead and have an adventure today anyway. My first thought was to go beering by myself. Then I thought of the racetrack with mom. This morning when I first woke, I decided that it would be best if I stayed around here - ate leftovers, cleaned out the car, packed etc. Yippee for being "responsible."

Photos from July 13, 2011:


Mom's fan and the cleared out area. I was sorting one of the boxes last night and had a violent allergic reaction. No wonder mom's nose drips! Her room needs a major cleaning. One day...


The electronic chalkboard at Opus - coolness!


The fruit of a lot of stealth sorting! Bye bye! Happy recycling!! :)

Zuper Zaturday

No real plans for the day, yesterday. Sort of went with the flow. Mom and I eventually got the day started with brunch - I made the left over chicken into curried chicken salad. With grapes and apple slices. The remainder of the grapes and apples made tasty juice!

Then we decided that we were going to go see the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts movie. I hadn't realized that Tom wore so many hats for this film. He wrote, directed (probably helped produce) and starred in it. It was a midling movie at best. Enjoyable, mainly because I am a sap. I do enjoy my romantic comedies and feel good movies.

Dinner was leftovers - frozen Augustus eggrolls (heated up), left over green beans and coleslaw. Easy-Peasy!

On a whim, I decided to go out last night. As I walked downtown, I formulated my plan. Go to Red Dove Tavern and say hi to Lianne. Sure enough, she was there - so was Laura, most recently from Beef and Brew. And Katie, who I also met at Beef and Brew (she too was a patron). Small town! Had a pleasant time, drinking beer (War of 1812 Amber from Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. was a decent amber - nothing too exciting - Southern Tier's 2X IPA was an enjoyable double (I have yet to have a Southern Tier that disappoints) and an Old Speckled Hen) and chatting with all and sundry. At one point there was a teeny set of ok fireworks out on the lake. Yippee for fireworks! Oh, I learned more about a production of Into the Woods that is being put on here. I will have to go. Yippee!

Speaking of theatre, it looks like I may be helping out with the Opera (of Cinderella) in a number of capacities. I will know more after speaking with the director today at some point. While at the ren faire...

Walking home, I glanced in the Eddie O'Brien's window and was surprised to see Hilal, Gulsun and Ozge! We chatted for a few minutes and made tentative plans to go wine tasting on Thursday. I will make a plan for that, just in case. As we know, I like my plans. :)

Two more little things - one) I am thinking of another book or books - something about the women in the family - Anna Schoen-Rene, Mom's Mom, Mom. All are/were pretty amazing and worth writing about. We shall see if anything comes of it - two) still no response from my crush which is about what I expected. Sigh.

All in all, a Zuper Zaturday!

Photos from July 9, 2011:


Mom took a shine to this stuffed warthog - who was I to deny her! And my elephant pillow looks on...


Does anyone know which grandchild was responsible for this work of art? I am leaning towards Ernst or Eric, but it could very well have been Sam or Joe...


Yay, Fireworks!

I also took a movie of the fireworks - and one of a light show on a Harley - but for some reason, blogger hasn't yet successfully uploaded a movie for me. Probably just as well. :)

Off to the Faire!

What's the Blog About, Alfie?

Do I really need to figure out what this blog is supposed to be about? I hope not. My poor little grey cells would have too difficult a time with that task...instead, for the nonce, I will continue on in my willy-nilly way, typing whatever comes into my pretty little head. For me, it is a great way to get some writing done, which gives me a sense of accomplishment, no matter what else I do or don't do during the rest of the day. Like yesterday.

So I didn't get much of the stuff I wanted done yesterday accomplished. Oh well. Life is that way. One of the things about not getting stuff done, is that it will, most likely, still be there when you want to try again. And if it isn't, huzzah! Win-win! And if you do it - win! Win-win-win! Hurrah!!

What did I do instead of the things that I had outlined? Well, it took longer at Sam Bonney's than I thought it would. He is a very nice guy - just speaks a little deliberately. His secretary, Kathy, puts up with a lot, I am sure. :) Then we went to a camera store - wow - that place was totally cool! I dropped off a video of a) a movie I made and b) some home videos that I collected. They are going to transfer it to digital for me. Yippee! Next we stopped at Church's to ask them to come get the bumps out of the carpet. They said they would! Phew!

But wait, there's more! We lunched on sandwiches and then went to see Cars 2. Not as good as Cars, but still fun. We went 2D because that is the way mom likes it. Then Rite-Aid for mom's prescriptions and Wegman's for a few veggies for the evening's "breakfast for dinner." Next, I walked downtown carrying all of my change, only to get to the bank 6 minutes too late to change the coins for bills. Sigh. Went to Ed O'B's and chatted with Morgan, met Kyle and Sully (Morgan's father). See, no room to get the things done that I had planned. Maybe today.

And even more! I went to Ventosa - a winery - to see if I could run into Karynn - and I did! It was great to see her, albeit briefly. I also went to Beef and Brew. On the way, I ran into the Turkish Women. Gulsun had bought a bicycle! Or maybe the three of them chipped in together. I don't know for sure yet. And I went to Dana's Time Out for the second time. Wow. All in all, a busy day. Yippee for busy days!

Photos from July 6, 2011:

It was hard picking just three today...


Mom saw this wall first - I thought it was cool enough for a photo - in Waterloo, NY, near Sam Bonney's office.


This was breakfast for dinner - a sauteed vegetables and cheese omelet, bacon, home made hash browns, and an english muffin. Yum!


Karynn is the one on the left in this picture. :)

Sleepy

Or tired rather. I went to bed late and was up early. Five hours of sleep. And I don't really think I can go back to sleep just now. Mom and I have to go to a lawyer's office and sign papers at 10 am. Woo hoo.

My whole plan yesterday was to do laundry. Just laundry. Ok, a little food shopping as well. And make lots of calls. All of which happened. One of the calls was to the doctor for mom. She is having rib pains. Dr. Ryan wasn't in the office in the afternoon, so she saw a Nurse Practitioner. "Find yourself a nice nurse practitioner and settle down!" He sent her for an x-ray. I think we were only in the medical center/hospital for an hour, but it seemed a lot longer! A lot of very attractive women work in the medical field in Geneva...I'm just sayin'...

I was shocked that the woman that I had a huge crush on sent me an email. Sure it was brief and not timely. But it was a note. Not that I am harboring any hope that she actually likes me. I am sorely, sorely, sorely tempted to write a very honest letter in response. I am hoping that feeling will pass. We shall see.

The Turkish Women wanted to go to the Outlet Mall last night. I picked them up, we did their banking and then I dropped them at the mall. Where they stayed for almost 6 hours! Glad I didn't hang out with them! :) They were very sweet and bought me a lovely shirt - I might even try wearing it tonight!

I need to actually accomplish something today. Like clean the room I am living in here in Geneva. And the container cabinet in the kitchen needs to be cleaned out. And maybe I will move the pile of boxes from the study alcove to the basement. Something has got to give. I did at least print out my copy of Diary of a Plate Addict last night. And today I will give instructions to my proofreaders. Yippee!

Speaking of books - if anyone knows of any brewpubs that I ought to check out for possible inclusion in the book (should it come to be), please comment or send me an email or something. Thank you!

Someone else now knows that I am running for President in 2024. She didn't say she would vote for me. :(

Pictures from July 5, 2011:


McDonald's is supposed to open July 14 - the first 100 people get free Big Macs for a year. I don't think I am up for that...


Ozge in front of the bank - her earrings were red white and blue!


I just couldn't think what to cook for dinner, so made hotdogs and baked beans. Good thing mom isn't a picky eater!

Happy Fourth of July, 2011

Woo hoo! Yay America! Rah! You know that song/march that goes through your head (if you are American) when you think of America? Well, I guess it is different for different people. For me it is the Sousa March - Stars and Stripes forever.

Yesterday was the traditional celebration at the American Legion. At one point the guy hawking raffle tickets (I never did hear them draw for the grill) mentioned that they had been doing it for 65 years! I hope they break even!! It was not the most exciting time on the planet, but it was certainly enjoyable. And great fireworks! The food was ok - mom and I had sausages and Hilal, Gulsun and Ozge had pizza. That looked really sad. Cold and icky. :( Oh well. Later I had a hamburger which was ok. The sausages were decent. I also had some Molson's - how un-American of them to be serving Molson's on the 4th of July! The midway was teeny - four rides, maybe five games and a couple of food concessions. The Turkish women rode a couple of rides and spent some time with friends from their work. I hope they enjoyed themselves. I know I did. The fireworks display made the whole event worthwhile to me! I think mom enjoyed herself as well. Yippee!

Other than that, I did make coleslaw yesterday. Turned out pretty well. I would like to add some dijon mustard to the mix - but have trepidations about it as well. Maybe I will add some to a portion of it and see how it tastes. Or maybe some horseradish...Oh, I also neatened the lazy-susan under one of the counters and threw away a couple of pans that had seen better days.

Mom put the kibosh on having the Turkish women come live here. She felt invaded when I mentioned hiring them to help me around the house a little bit. So them living here would be anathema, I am sure. Oh well.

I am starting to think that writing the brewpub book would be a good idea. Similar in shape and style to Diary of a Plate Addict is my initial thought. We shall see.

Today is the actual Fourth. I am planning on going to see more fireworks tonight. I don't know if anyone is coming with me, but I am not attached to anyone else's presence. Though a girlfriend would be nice, if one were to magically drop from the sky!

Pictures from July 3, 2011:


The lazy-susan had been bugging me for a while - now it is all neat and happy. Yippee!


Mom in her throne!


Gulsun, Ozge and Hilal using my iPhone while waiting for the fireworks to begin.

RPO Red White and Boom

Overall, an enjoyable event. It had its difficult moments and its great moments. Like much of life. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Mom is having all sorts of pains and stuff to complain about. And it is fairly constant. Her current worry is that because her ribs ache, she might have breast cancer. Luckily, mom is not a full blown, over-the-top hypochondriac. Just a low level carper. And sometimes it is valid. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is a challenge though.

I went shopping by myself, which is always nice. Sadly, I went to Wal-Mart. Poop. Oh well, at least it is inexpensive! My trip was to find glasses that I could take in my picnic basket. For the fireworks on Monday I am planning on taking a little picnic. Wine, cheese, Triscuits and grapes. I needed some pretty glasses that would travel well. I found four on clearance - pictures eventually. I got everything, except the wine, at Wal-Mart. Wine is sold in liquor stores here in NYS. (I was a tad overwhelmed with all of the wine choices - I always am...)

Does everyone live in something of a fantasy land? I mean, philosophically, and perhaps scientifically, what we experience isn't real. Sure, it is real for us (and that is enough) but is it really objective reality? Anyway, that is a slight digression. What I was thinking was that I live in a bit of a fantasy land. Fantasies about selling lots of copies of Diary of a Plate Addict, getting Bar Dreams on Oprah - oh, wait, Oprah isn't Oprah any more - how about on QVC? - relationships (finding a life partner), Sirius Theatre, etc. My latest one is this: having the Turkish women come live here in Geneva for their last six weeks. They mentioned the other day that their rent was expensive and that they were looking for someplace else to live. A little income for us, some mental stimulation for mom...doubtful, but anything is possible. Mom meets them tonight. Fingers crossed...

I made eggrolls last night for dinner. Froze a few. I think we now have twenty or so in the freezer. Yippee? Today is coleslaw day! Mom likes coleslaw. A lot. Moving on...after dinner we went to Canandaigua for the Rochester Philharmonic's Red, White and Boom. We got there and parked fairly easily (but we had to pay for parking - I hate to pay for parking...). Walking up to the lawn seating was a bit of a challenge, but we made it without too much difficulty. Got a good space for the chair and blanket. The first half was lackluster. Nothing too thrilling. The second half was much better. Bernstein (Overture to West Side Story), Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue), Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture (Boom)) and Sousa (Stars and Stripes Forever). All performed decently!

The fireworks were ok at best. Unfortunately, the venue turned on all their lights as soon as the concert was over, making the viewing a bit poor. Then the show just wasn't spectacular. Not very long and not very well choreographed. They had an orchestra for goodness sakes, couldn't they do something to music? Or at least pace what they had better? Oh well. I am still glad to have seen them. And there are two more Fireworks shows to go. One tonight at the American Legion here in Geneva. And tomorrow night back in Canandaigua! Yippee!

Are my posts getting longer or am I hallucinating that?

Pictures from July 2, 2011:


I am always impressed by how much spinach cooks down with a little sauteing.


Mom lounging, waiting for me to return.


The CMAC - not really sure what all the letters stand for...

More Guilty Pleasures

What a great phrase, "guilty pleasures." Anyway, I do have a bunch of them. Like playing games on the computer and on xBox. Yes, I do play xBox and would play other game machines if they happened to appear before me. On the computer, I play a lot of bridge. Much more fun to me than solitaire. True, I am playing alone (I have had some less than optimal experiences playing online bridge and other card games) so it is still sort of like solitaire. And I am playing a Facebook game called Garden of Time - a hidden object game. For which I need to harass my friends to join me in the game so that I can continue it. Or fork out money, which, as many of you know, can be a challenge. And there are other guilty pleasures, but those are all I am going to fess up to at this point. (So, if any of you are a) on Facebook and b) like hidden object games, please become my friend and neighbor - soon. Thank you.)

Mom and I had errand day again! We went and picked up the mail, most of which was pretty useless. I did get the three Wheel of Time Audio Books that I had ordered. Yippee! That brings the total that I have to 8 (of fourteen, I think). What is very, very weird is that one of the books costs way more than any of the others. Book 9 costs $120 while the most any of the others cost is around $50. What is that about? Anyone? I sent a message to the company, asking them, and if I hear anything, I will probably post it. We went to the library and got out a book that Marlo Thomas wrote. Then to the supermarket where we spent quite a bit on groceries. Our supply of vegetable matter was quite low due to our recent trip. Lastly, we went to Lowes to look at composters. I am not sure what to do about that. Any suggestions are welcome.

At one point, while checking my mail, as I do fairly frequently when I am procrastinating, I found a message from one of the three young Turkish women that I met a couple of weeks ago. Yippee! We ended up meeting out and discussing various subjects, including their desire to do more than hang out in Geneva. I am hoping I can help them to explore some of the attractions around the area. We shall see.

I am looking for 5-10 people to proofread the next draft of Diary of a Plate Addict - these need to be people with attention to detail - who will notice when there is a missing space in a sentence, when a graphic looks badly cropped or just doesn't seem to fit correctly on a page, when a sentence is too mangled or bizarre or out of place and needs to be fixed. Anyone?

Can anyone believe that I have made it this far, taking a picture a day and posting every day for 181 days! Woo hoo!

Pictures from June 30, 2011:


Aren't they pretty?


Oops, still haven't gotten 'round to neatening my room after emptying the containers of stuff from Clayton.


Aren't they pretty? No, wait, I just said that. I meant, um, oh, right, that is what I meant...

Juicer

I bought my mom a juicer several years ago. Hmm, I wonder how many years ago...Anyway, she never used it. Understandably. It is huge and intimidating. And has a lot of parts that need to be cleaned.Cleaning right away works best. Anyway, I have mentioned it here before. I just like it. I think once a week or twice a week for fresh juice is not a bad thing. Yesterday's juice was grapes mostly, plus one nectarine and one apple. Yum! I have another watermelon to make more juice, but that will probably wait until Monday or so.

Two things I would like to accomplish in the nearish future: clean out a second drawer in the dresser in my room; I need a place to put pants and things. And one pass through one of the attic rooms. The front room. It is fairly neat already, but I would like to take a look and see if there is anything that is crying out to be gotten rid of. And maybe I will make that the sale room - put anything that might go up for sale in a yard sale in there. Anything is possible...

Oh, I tennised yesterday. All by myself. For about 20 minutes. I figure I need to start out slow. My hand was about to be sore from holding the racquet. It has been at least ten years, maybe longer, since I put racquet to ball. So two dozen serves, a dozen forehands and two dozen backhands and I called it a day. Yippee!

I give out cards as frequently as I can and hope that they don't all end up in the trash. I gave one to a woman from Brazil yesterday who I have crossed paths with a couple of times already. Perhaps people actually look at the blog. Not one has actually contacted me from the card. Yet. Hope springs eternal. There are very few good correspondents out there. Jeff is probably thinking that I am a bad one for not having responded to his last missives - but I will, Jeff - I will! And others - well, isn't it polite to ask questions of the other person? To show that one is interested in the other person's life? Statements do not a dialogue make...Oh, I still haven't heard from or remet the Turkish girls. Oh well.

Pictures from June 18, 2011:


Mom wanted me to mark my tennis balls for some reason. So I did.


Not a lot of people playing tennis yesterday. Maybe I will go up again today...

Unexpected can be great!

I had a plan in mind. I often have a plan in mind. I like to have a plan in mind. That way, I haven't failed to plan or planned to fail or whatever that saying is. So, my plan was to go to the bicycle shop and test ride some bikes. I would really like a bike. I walked all the way down there - all the way being about 6/10s of a mile. And found they were closed. Always closed on Wednesdays. Whatever. I did, though stop at the bank and at a game store in town. I wish the game store luck. I can't imagine what their daily nut has to be. Digression, gotta love it.

So, anywho, I was mildly disappointed that the store was closed. Well, that just means that I get to go today. Yippee. I decided to continue with my plan and walk to Wegman's - another 6/10s of a mile. But I got sidetracked. I hadn't, as of yet, actually made it inside of Eddie O'Briens. And I don't know how often I will frequent the place. But I am getting ahead of myself. I went in and sat at the bar. I wasn't planning on staying, but Morgan, the bartender was too darned beautiful (sorry Morgan, had to say it) sweet, intelligent and personable for me to just say "hi" and leave. She was great and I know that whatever she does in life, she will do it excellently (with all of the caveats that go with life). She fed me lots of tastes of beer that I have already had. Yippee. And then a $1.50 pint of Yuengling - which, after all the tastes, wasn't too bad. I also met Greg. And a server named Tracy. And another server whose name escapes me just now. Maybe it will come to me. Anyway, I had a grand time with Morgan at Eddie O'Briens.

On my walk to Wegman's, I came across three young women all dressed the same, in Belhurst shirts. I spoke with them, because that is who I am. They are, it turns out, here working for three months at Belhurst. From Turkey! I will, one day, know their names. I apologize, but Turkish is not a language that I am familiar with, and their names were a challenge for me to absorb. They were on their way to the Big M market (Madia's) to get some groceries. I "made" them go to Wegman's instead. I think they were happy about that. Instead of making them walk home again, I walked, quickly, to get my car, so that I could drive them home. Sweet kids! I hope to run into them again before their time here is over.

So, the long and the short of it - say yes. Make a plan and take what comes - go with the flow - see the possibilities and pick the ones that offer the most growth, not the ones that offer the most safety or comfort. Life is too short for that.

I also went out to the Beef and Brew. It has quickly become my hangout of choice - at least on Mondays and Wednesdays. Met a whole slew of college staff members. Fun was had!

Pictures from June 8, 2011:


Step two - buy tennis balls - step one was accomplished when I brought my tennis racquet up from Clayton, NC. Now, I just need to get my butt out there and hit some balls. Sigh.


Can't help myself - I like taking pictures of the Seneca Lake!


This was in the shade. The other side said 97!


Taps and Morgan at the very end. Someone actually eager to be in a picture!


More of mom's peonies.